Sanity in Art!

As many of you know, I love to do art with Zane. And he loves it also. Today we visited AMY (Arizona Museum for Youth) for an art class for 2 to 5 year olds. The title was MESSY CREATIONS! Yes, it is a very accurate description. Zane loved it! Afterward, while talking to David at lunch, I realized that I love the art classes too! Maybe more than Zane!!!! WHY? He can make as big of a mess as he wants and I don't have to clean it up!!!!! HURRAY!!!!



Thank you to Jane, his teacher of the class. We love taking her classes. And thank you to all the staff at AMY! It is great for preschoolers and it is a great price. There is a link to their web site in the right margin. I strongly suggest a visit.



Here is some of the awesome art that Zane created today in class.

Not too messy, use bingo dabbers and dip in water, then SMASH on the paper: Splatter painting

FEATHER PAINTING: Use a feather, dip in paint and paint. Zane added glitter and feathers.

Glitter Stamping: Use glue and foam stamp and put on paper, then sprinkle glitter over!

Use glue as paint, then sprinkle colored sand over, like glitter, and shake off excess. MESSY

One Step Closer!

Today we really started to work and focus on using the potty! I have gotten Zane big boy underwear, not the training pants (I think they are too much like diapers for him) and he has been very successful on pulling them down. Well we went all day without an accident, until 5 pm when Zane was outside playing. He looks so cute in his little boxer briefs!

I only have one diaper to wash from today! It was the nap diaper! I can't believe it!

Then as I am writing this post, David comes and tells me I have something to clean up. Honestly, I was waiting for that!

Busy Summer

Today we complete our first session of swim lessons. Zane is doing great. He loves to float and kick on his belly. In the two short weeks he has gone from not wanting to jump in to jumping in without me holding his hands. Yesterday he did not want me to hold him, he soon found out that he sinks. He changed his mind on me holding him. Yesterday was also the first day that he did not put up a full protest when it was time to float on his back. He only did it once. Hopefully that will change as we have three more sessions left.

We are having the swim lessons at Brimhall Pool, through the City of Mesa. There are also other great classes that we are doing, especially the ones at the Arizona Museum of Youth! First one is on Sat. It is Messy Creations (I believe?!). To view classes-click on link and sign in as guest and browse TimeOut Magazine.

Finished Product

Wall Bed Is Finished!!!!

Horray for David!

He has finished the Bed.

There will be pictures soon!

All I can say is that it is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

Wildlife in Your Backyard

I love my sunflowers! It has been more than beautiful flowers to see each and every day. We have come to discover a bountiful array of birds coming to visit each and every day. We have the usual: sparrows and finches. We have also been blessed with wild love birds. It is wonderful so see and hear them. However, they are eating all of the seeds. But Zane has learned about different birds and their songs. God's creatures are wonderful!

Adoption Update

We have just spent the last seven weeks in adoption classes. They have been informative and also given us some guide lines as to what we want and don't want in an adoption. The biggest struggle that I am still having is how open do we want our open adoption to be.

For those who do not know what an open adoption is, let me explain. First, I am very glad that most of today's adoptions are open, because many of the questions and confusions that the adoptees face in the future are not there, for they know about their birth parents and their heritage. There are so many degrees of openness: the birth mother coming to the house and the child knowing her as a family member to emails, pictures and letters once a year. Luckily we don't have to decide today. But it is a huge struggle for me. We are going to have to set the boundaries for a child who we don't know and a woman (hopefully a man also) who we have never met and know nothing about. These are also the guide lines for a very long time. yes they could change but it is hard to put something that significant in writing as a covenant.

Besides the classes being over, we have also been given a case number and the courts are waiting for the paperwork from the homestudy. Which, thankfully is almost complete. On June 16, the day after Father's Day, we are having our final homestudy visit. This will also be the first time that our casework will be meeting Zane. She is excited about meeting him --she is in for a treat. Then on Tues. the 17th we will be presented to the staff at the agency, this includes the pregnancy counselors also. We should have our matchletter completed and ready for the book that day also.

It is now the waiting game. Please pray for the birthmother: for strength of healing and the grief that she will be experiencing. For like us, she will be loosing a child. For the child: health, safety, and God's protection. We do not know the situation the child is in but know that God can protect the child. For us: that God gives us patience and guidance in the whole process. Also how to explain and prepare Zane for a new baby in the house. It was much easier with Micah, because he was able to see Micah growing in my tummy. Here, we will just bring a baby home and it will never leave. We are talking about the process, but it is hard to know how much Zane understands.

I was encouraged by one of the families we heard from last night. The week they turned their paper work in was the same week that their daughter was conceived. They did not expect to have to wait nine months to be placed, but they are so glad that God's plan is not ours. Who know what God's plan is for us, but it WILL be wonderful.

Updates to come!